“Quartet”

 

Directed by Dustin Hoffman

With Maggie Smith, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connelly, and Michael Gambon.

 

“Quartet” may deal with the struggles of aging, but it actually turns out to be a celebration of life. This touching and fun film looks at a group of elderly musicians who live in the elegant, but slightly decaying Beecham House situated in the pastoral English countryside. Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with this film, which shows it is never to late to begin a new chapter in life…. for him at age 75 or for his characters.

The storyline is simple. The residents of Beecham House are trying to put a show together, a fund raiser to save their beloved residence, which has fallen on hard times. They are to put on a concert to honor the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi.

Wilfred Bond (Billy Connelly) is an outspoken wit, a flirt, a man who never fails to inject sexual innuendo at any opportunity. Reference is made to a stroke he has suffered. Reginald (Tom Courtenay, his old friend) is a reserved and proper gentleman. The ever-kind and energetic Cecily Robeson (Pauline Collins) loves life, but is beginning to suffer dementia. All three were famed opera singers, but those days are over long ago.

The Beecham house residents are all atwitter because a new resident is arriving. Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), a diva extraordinaire, is surely the most renowned of all of them. A feisty woman of huge ego and an aura of superiority, she refuses to take part in the planned gala performance. Her voice isn’t what it used to be and she has a bad hip. She and the courtly Reginald were once married until she was unfaithful to him. He has never forgiven her. This is the main conflict of “Quartet.” He refuses to acknowledge her and she snubs him.

“Quartet” examines life for the retired Beecham residents years after the applause has ended. The film deals with the unhappy challenges of aging. It seems as if every one of them has an ailment to overcome. Dustin Hoffman makes it all work. Far from being depressing, “Quartet” is fresh and vital. Most characters in the film are, in reality, one-time musicians or singers. They do a terrific job.

Like the “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Quartet” is a film that includes senior actors at the top of their game. It is a satisfying and sweet fairytale for seniors. However, younger viewers will also relate to it: They have aging parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. And the show must go on for all of us. I suppose some viewers may find “Quartet” predictable and the ending too Hollywood. Who cares? I didn’t.

Django Unchained

 

Directed and written by Quentin Tarantino

With Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Kerry

Washington, Don Johnson, Jonah Hill and Quentin Tarantino

 There appear to be two kinds of filmgoers: those who embrace Quentin Tarantino’s

bold and bloody films (as  in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Inglorious Basterds) and those who simply refuse to watch his films.  For the former, Django Unchained is a Quentin Tartantino entertainment extravaganza, an action /revenge flick par excellence.  Mr Tarantino is a noted aficionado of B movies and spaghetti westerns, and this film pays lavish  tribute to those genres wherein the heros are anti heroes with little respect for social order.   He also has something to say about slavery.

  It is two years before the Civil War, and Dr King Schultz(Christoph Waltz) is a German bounty hunter looking for some stagecoach robber killers.  Django is a slave who happens to know where they are.  He is filthy, in chains, wearing rags.  Dr Shultz buys his freedom and they join forces to find(kill) the bounty hunter’s quarry.  In payment, Dr Shultz Offers to help Django find his wife, Broomhilda, a slave who has learned to speak German—thus the name Broomhilda.  Shultz is a businessman, but he also has a sense of humanity, unlike most of the other players in this film.  He has a distaste for slavery but thinks nothing of cold-bloodedly killing the bad guys for whom he receives bounty.

The film is a simple narrative of Django and Shultz’s bounty hunter partnership and revenge on those who enslaved Django and  Broomhilda.  Because this is a Tarantino film, the violence is over the top as the two ruthlessly kill the ‘bad guys.’  The viewer doesn’t feel bad because ‘they had it coming.’  Geysers of blood abound throughout Django, almost as in a comic strip.  Also, the ‘N’ word is heard constantly, over 100 times.  Remember it was in the 1850’s and that word was in constant use.

It is good versus evil, and the evil is really evil.  You see the relentless brutality used towards the slaves.  So when revenge is exacted, you want to cheer.   You have witnessed what it is like to be somebody’s property, not protected by the law.  One particularly violent Southerner is Calvin Candie(Leonardo DiCaprio) a wealthy plantation owner who watches his slaves fight to the death or perhaps thrown to his dogs to tear apart.

Django is not just an action entertainment.  It is a complex film with a message.  The performances are excellent.  Christoph Waltz is a sublime Dr.Schultz, often subtly moved by emotion.  Jamie Foxx is great as the single minded freed slave who will liberate Broomhilda, no matter what the obstacles which include dozens of Calvin Candie’s henchmen and the formidiable Uncle Tom, Samuel L Jackson, who is the House Slave, for Mr Candie.  Baby faced Leonardo DiCaprio is the quintessential Southern Gentleman, polite and sadistic all at once.

Django has plenty of cruelty, violence, vengeance.  After all, Quentin Tarantino is the unchallanged expert of brazen bloodshed.  There is also a lot of silliness, as when the hooded Klu Klux Klaners can’t get their hoods on straight.  The point to the film is ethically on target.   Slavery was an arrangement full of pain for the servants.  The standoff at the conclusion is astoundingly bloody.  But, remember they had it coming. 

‘Flight’

 

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Written by John Gains

With Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, Bruce Greenwood

And John Goodman

 

Fasten your seat belts. Flight will have you searching for any alternative to flying to get to your next faraway destination. This film, brilliantly directed by Robert Zemeckis(“Forrest Gump,” “Glory,” “Training Day,” “Castaway”) is not just an air disaster nailbiter, but really a character study of its lead character, Whip Whitaker, astutely played by Denzel Washington.

Whip, a former Navy ace, is a commercial pilot who likes his booze, coke and weed. In the opening scenes he wakes up after a night of sex and drugs with a flight attendant. He takes a long swig of alcohol, chugs a couple of  beers. To wake himself, he does a few lines of coke. Next you see him in his pilot’s uniform boarding a plane in Orlando, Fla., bound for Atlanta, Ga. 

He is higher than a kite. He straps himself into his seat after drinking three mini bottles of vodka. Finally he guides the plane into the sky. After takeoff, mechanical difficulties cause the plane to lose its power: it is in free fall.  There are terrifying scenes of chaos and frenzy. Somehow he calmly and masterfully crashes the plane with the loss of only a few lives. He is hailed as a hero.

Until the inquiries begin. Whip’s blood alcohol levels indicate he was drinking. Legions of media people want explanations. The pilots’ union and the airlines want a cover up. Insurance companies are circling. An attorney (Don Cheadle)is hired. Whip’s drinking is the issue. Was he drunk when he flew that plane?

The real story of “Flight” is about a man coming to terms with the truth about himself.

Whip has a drinking problem. He has an ex-wife who hates him. His son hates him. Now his flying career is over. He is tough, but also frail. He has a haunted look, he stumbles, blacks out, is often falling down drunk. He does not seek help. He has saved 96 lives, but he can’t save himself.

There is a NTSB hearing to determine Whip’s state of mind while flying. Ellen Block (Melissa Leo) leads the examination. He has been carefully prepped by the attorneys.

Denzel Washington gives a simply perfect in-depth performance as a man struggling to come to the truth about himself. A bit of comic relief is provided by John Goodman who plays Hurling Mays, Whip’s drug pusher. This comic element is a little out of place in this hard-nosed story.

“Flight” is not about the horrific airplane crash. It is a thoughtful film about how a person can fake it, how one tries to get through life as an alcoholic. It is a thriller, a legal drama with some romance, a bit of melodrama. Will there be redemption? See “Flight” and you will find out.  

Argo

 

Directed by Ben Affleck

Written by ChrisTerrio

With Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman and Victor Garber

 

Ben Affleck directs and stars in Argo, a political thriller based on events that took place in Tehran, Iran in 1979. The film opens with harrowing footage of militants storming and finally entering the U.S. embassy, brutally seizing 52 hostages during the Islamic revolution. 

Unbeknownst to the militants, six embassy workers escaped and received asylum in the house of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). Argo details a plan developed to smuggle these six out of Iran—and what a far-fetched plan it was.

Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA operative, is to pose as a producer looking for locations in Tehran to film a ‘Star Wars’ type of film, named “Argo.” He enlists the help of Hollywood to formulate a bogus script, elaborate story boards, costumes, posters, even mentions in the Hollywood trade papers. John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegelm ( Alan Arkin) are movie veterans conscripted to provide a sci-fi film that will pass the scrutiny of the Iranian officials.  These two men provide much-appreciated comic relief in this tense story.

Mendez creates fake passports for the six workers and coaches them on how to behave in their new identities as film crew workers. Their trepidation is palpable and understandable. One false move and they could be sent to prison—or shot.

The real story has been embellished to make “Argo” an intense entertainment. nBen Affleck will get a nod from the Academy Awards. Each of his characters has depth. We learn a little about what is going on in each of their lives. He mixes humor with life and death by including Hollywood stereotypes Alan Arkin and John Goodman, who never fail to produce the laughs.

Mr. Affleck’s attention to period detail is impeccable. The men’s shirts have wide collars, while others wear gold chains, eyeglasses with oversized frames, 1970s sideburns. The Iranian scenes were filmed in Istanbul, the Americans being oogled and jostled by obviously Islamic crowds. A hand-held camera is used to make the scenes all the more hair raising. 

It really doesn’t matter that parts of Argo stray from the real story. It is a film about real heroes:  Tony Mendez and the Canadian ambassador took huge risks to help the six Americans. The last half hour of the film is as terrifying as any you have ever seen. No need to question the historical details. It is an excellent film. By the way, any resemblance to the recent events in Libya is purely coincidental!

“The Master”

 

Directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson

With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams

 

“The Master” is a film that defies easy explanation. It is a disturbing epic tale of clashing personalities, obsession, delusion and the will to control. The acting of its main two characters, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, transcends anything they have previously done—and they both have won academy awards

It begins in 1950 when Americans are seeking the promise of new life. War veteran, Freddy Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), is a rootless troubled mess of anxieties and cockiness, probably suffering from Post Traumatic Stress syndrome. He can’t keep a job, his one success being able to make booze from paint thinner. Perennially drunk, he crawls onto a yacht anchored in the San Francisco Bay. When he wakes up, he is in world of wealth and privilege overseen by a self-help guru, Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). 

Dodd is the charismatic leader of a Movement called “The Cause.” He is accompanied by family members and other swooning acolytes who believe he can take them to “an inherent state of perfection.” He uses mind control and hypnosis to get his subjects to relive past lives, some all the way back to millions of years ago. 

Somehow this activity is supposed to rid them of negative emotions. And it might also cure cancer.

Dodd takes on Freddie Quell as a “guinea pig,” figuring that if he can help this disturbed young man, he can cure anybody. Lancaster Dodd bears a close similarity to L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who used methods like Dodd’s “processing” to take a subject back to life in the womb. Like Hubbard, Lancaster Dodd is a confident, brilliant theoretician, able to talk anyone into anything. He is a snake oil salesman of the highest order. He is the opposite of the weak and unglued Freddy and “The Master” is mainly about the counterpoint of these two men, as opposite as any two could be.

The early 1950s are gorgeously brought to life in “The Master.” Every dress, every automobile, every hairdo, every skyline is faithful to that time. All the secondary characters are perfectly cast and cinematographer Mihai Malaimare films everything beautifully.

Joaquin Phoenix, hunched over, his face haunted and gaunt, gives the performance of a lifetime. His psychic pain is almost palpable. Philip Seymour Hoffman is superb as the powerful Dodd, a charming autocrat, winning in his ways.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has created a very strange and dysfunctional world. His other films, among them “Boogie Nights” and “There Will Be Blood,” also depict often bizarre worlds with unforgettable characters. 

“The Master” has no real ending and defies the usual Hollywood narrative. It depicts drifting and searching for meaning. This film will exasperate many viewers who are used to more mundane entertainments, but it is an arresting and absorbing work of power and brilliance. Paul Thomas Anderson has hit the jackpot again.

‘Lawless’

 

Directed by John Hillcoat

Written by Nick Cave from “The Wettest County in the World” by Matt Bondourant

 

With Guy Pearce, Thomas Hardy, Shia La Beouf, Jessica Chastain, Jason

Clark, Gary Oldman, and Mia Wasikowska

 

The impressively executed “Lawless” tells the true life tale of three brawling brothers, Forrest (Thomas Hardy), Jack (Shia La Bouef) and Howard (Jason Clark), who were infamous during Prohibition.

It all happens in Franklin County, Va., where the three Bondourant brothers brewed and sold high-quality hooch. “Lawless” brings together just about everything you could want in a story:  corruption, avarice, family loyalty, envy, pride, revenge, outlaws and, yes, even a love story or two.   

It is based on the book, “The Wettest County in the World” written by Matt Boudorant, the grandson of one of the brothers and gives a graphic look at their dangerous lives.

In 1931, Franklin County, Va., was a major supplier of bootleg booze to the thirsty citizens of prohibition America. The Bondourant brothers made the best, even selling it to the local sheriff and his men. All is fine until Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) arrives, a federal deputy who comes to wipe out the trade, but really only wants a part of the profits. It would be hard to find a more detestable character than Charlie Rakes, a dandy who has spotless leather gloves, perfectly pomaded hair, and a bow tie.

A mobster, Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman), appears on the scene, also wanting a cut. The local deputies quickly join forces with Rakes and Banner.

The brothers decline to share their profits with Rakes. So begins the violence.

Terrifying scenes of shoot outs, raids, neck slashings and face bashings follow. The police become the villains and the outlaw brothers become the heroes. The oldest brother, Forrest, becomes involved with barmaid Maggie (Jessica Chastian) and Jack is besotted by Bertha (Mia Wasikowska), a Mennonite preacher’s daughter. There are delicate scenes of the tenderness of both couples.

“Lawless” is a superb character drama. The dynamic of the three brothers is explored. The stoic Forrest makes the decisions, Howard is quick to execute violent means, and Jack is more timid and emotional. Charlie Rakes is a true villain, a psychopath. Although both Maggie and Bertha are the supportive caring women, their characters are also fleshed out.

The production values of “Lawless” are simply outstanding. The rural Virginia scenes

are beautifully filmed. An interior shot of a hospital is all white and pure, a counterbalance to the mayhem of what is been going on outside in the Moonshine Wars.

Director John Hillcoat has impressively executed a film both of  great beauty and  startling uses of force. All of the violence actually fits into the story line, however, and “Lawless” has memorable characters, a story that pulses, as well as honeyed scenes of Virginia as it was in 1931. And it is based on true events, providing an absorbing and thrilling history lesson about the days of bootlegging.

Hope Springs

 

Directed by David Frankel

Written by Vanessa Taylor

 

With Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and James Carell

 

Although it is called a romantic comedy, Hope Springs is a serious story about a baby boomer couple attempting to freshen up a marriage that has gone stale.

Kate (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) Soames of Omaha have been married for 31 years.  Their two kids have grown up, and their marriage has fallen into a routine. They sleep in separate bedrooms. Kate cooks him the identical breakfast each day, which he eats wordlessly while reading a newspaper. She prepares dinner for the two of them, which he eats quickly then leaves the table to watch golf on television. They have not had sex for five years.

Arnold is a grumpy angry man who is okay with the way things are. Kate is very unhappy about the decades of neglect she has experienced. Although she is married, she is desperately lonely.

She decides to enroll them in a Couples Therapy week conducted by doctor Ben Feld (James Carell) in Hope Springs, Maine.  She pays the $4,000 fee herself. Begrudging and angry, Arnold comes with her.

Hope Springs details their week in Maine with Dr. Feld. That they sit on opposite sides of the couch says volumes about their relationship. Dr. Feld asks them questions, gently, probing about their fantasies, their hopes, when they were the happiest, when they fell in love.  

Arnold is a reluctant, complaining participant. Kay wants only to get closer to him and somehow recapture the affection they once had for each other. It seems hopeless. Will Arnold ever get in touch with his emotions?

“Hope Springs” is an ambitious attempt to reach mature audiences, unusual in mainstream American cinema. But there appears to be a market for that kind of film fare. Observe the success of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” The movie industry is now taking an interest in the aging population.

“Hope Springs” is about real people dealing with real problems. It is an intimate look at how a middle-age couple falls into a marriage of complacency. There are laughs, but there here are no stupid punch lines. This is serious business.

Meryl Streep gives a simple and touching performance of a woman who is rejected by her husband and does not know how to get him to notice her. Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as the uptight curmudgeon who ultimately can show tenderness. James Carell is terrific as the gently probing and patient therapist.

Younger audiences may be grossed out seeing a sixtyish couple making out and will have trouble relating to Kay and Arnold’s relationship issues. But mature audiences are sure to find “Hope Springs” an emotionally rewarding look into the issues between older couples. It is a beautiful and poignant story and has three fine performances. And it all happens in a picture perfect little town in Maine.